History of Psychology: Psychoanalysis

Precursors of Psychoanalysis

Psychiatry as a term was coined by Reil in 1808, and would slowly replace the older term «alienist*. The new respect signalled by the new name was based on significant improvements in the care of the mentally ill in the second half of the 1700's — another consequence of the enlightenment. Instead of simply locking up the mentally ill in miserable prison-like facilities, certain physicians in charge of the institutions introduced what was known as moral therapy: The inmates were provided with a simple, structured life, in an effort to lead them back to health. It was people like Phillipe Pinel in France, William Tuke in England, Vincenzo Chiarugi in Florence, and Dorothea Dix in the U.S. who initiated these changes.

In 1801, Phillipe Pinel introduced the first textbook on moral therapy to the world.

Another early landmark of psychiatry was the introduction of careful diagnosis of mental illness, beginning with Emil Kraepelin's work (1856-1926). The first differentiated classification was of what he labelled dementia praecox, which meant the insanity of adolescence, or what we now call schizophrenia.

The early history of psychiatry is mixed together with two other specialties: Hypnosis and Neurology. So, let's take a brief look at the founder of each: Anton Mesmer and Jean-Martin Charcot.

Franz Anton Mesmer

Franz Anton Mesmer was born May 23, 1734 in Iznang, Germany, near Lake Constance. He received his MD from the University of Vienna in 1766. His dissertation concerned the idea that the planets influenced the health of those of us on earth. He suggested that their gravitational forces could change the distribution of our animal spirits. Later, he changed his theory to emphasize magnetism rather than gravity — hence the term «animal magnetism*. It would soon, however, come to be known as mesmerism.

He was, in fact, able to put people into trance states, even convulsions, by waving magnetized bars over them. His dramatic performances were quite popular for a while, although he believed that anyone could achieve the same results. In point of fact, some of his patients did in fact get relief from their symptoms — a point that would later be investigated by others.

When accused of fraud by other physicians in Vienna, he went to Paris. In 1784, the King of France, Louis XVI, appointed a commission including Benjamin Franklin to look into Mesmer and his practices. They concluded that his results were due to nothing more than suggestion.

Despite condemnation by many of the educated elite, mesmerism became a popular fad in the salons of Europe. In order to serve the many poor people who came to him for help, he designed a sort of bathtub in which they could lit while holding the magnetic rods themselves. He even-111 a 11 у created an organization to train other mesmerists.

Mesmer died March 5, 1815 in Meersburg, also near Lake Constance, Germany.

An English physician, James Braid (1795-1860), a much more careful researcher of Mesmer's phenomenon, termed it hypnotism. Disassociated from Mesmer, hypnotism would go on to have a long life into the twentieth century.

Jean-Martin Charcot

Jean-Martin Charcot was born in Paris on November 29, 1825. He received his MD at the University of Paris in 1853. In 1860 he became a professor at his alma mater. Two years later, he began to work at SalpKtriere Hospital as well. In 1882, he opened a neurological clinic at SalpKtriere Hospital. It, and he, became known throughout Europe, and students came from everywhere to study the new field. Among them were Alfred Binet and a young Sigmund Freud.

Charcot is well known in medical circles for his studies of the neurology of motor disorders, resulting diseases, aneurysms, and localization of brain functions. He is considered the father of modern neurology as well as the person who first diagnosed of Multiple Sclerosis.

In psychology, he is best known for his use of hypnosis to successfully treating women suffering from the psychological disorder then known as hysteria. Now called conversion disorder, hysteria involved a loss of some physiological function such as vision, speech, tactile sensations, movement, etc., that was nonetheless not based in actual neurological damage.

Charcot believed that hysteria was due to a congeni-tally weak nervous system, combined with the effects of some traumatic experience. Hypnotizing these patients brought on a state similar to hysteria itself. He found that, in some cases, the symptoms would actually lessen after hypnosis — although he was only interested in studying hysteria, not in curing it. Others would later use hypnosis as a part of curing the problem.